On the plus side, I just visited China last month and never felt safer. Before you would wear your backpack on the front of your chest when taking public transportation for fear of thieves. Now, with surveillance everywhere (and random ID checks at subways), you can freely wear your backpack on your back where it belongs without fear of theft.
China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
71–80 of 280 posts
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's almost as if growing cities are economic growth multipliers and perhaps even a key part of that whole civilization thing. Meanwhile over here it's taken as assumed that cities cannot and/or should not grow ever again.
> Meanwhile over here it's taken as assumed that cities cannot and/or should not grow ever again. How do you mean?
Even more likely than what those guys said: there's no room for expansion. What is Anaheim going to do, eat Santa Ana to become bigger?
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Meanwhile over here it's taken as assumed that cities cannot and/or should not grow ever again. How do you mean?
Probably referring to the hatred many in the United States have towards urban development. In pretty much every city in the United States development has been slowed to a crawl due to zoning restrictions, despite increasing huge demand. People love to use SF as a prime example but I will point to my city, Somerville MA where rents have been soaring, yet there are only 22 lots that meet the residential zoning requirem…
That is weird, and saddening. As a lifelong city dweller (primarily Chicago) I love the character, chaos, and depth of dense cities. Visiting some of the big cities in China, I was really taken with their bustling nature, the crowded street markets, the densely packed housing, and the diverse architecture. They seem to me so much more "alive" than the sprawling, strip-mall-filled anonymity of many American cities. I had chalked it up to American's desire for personal space, proliferation of cars and scarcity of public transit options. But I hadn't really considered the effects of zoning and other legal restrictions.
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#74most people doesn't recognise that this is the "I don't have anything to hide"-folks wetest dream.
this kind of article is just free advertisement for the companies selling this crap.
even here, the top comment now is about how someone never felt safer in China, probably because they " have nothing to hide"
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#75On the plus side, I just visited China last month and never felt safer. Before you would wear your backpack on the front of your chest when taking public transportation for fear of thieves. Now, with surveillance everywhere (and random ID checks at subways), you can freely wear your backpack on your back where it belongs without fear of theft.
without fear of theft, political organizational, labour bargaining groups, religious freedom, etc, etc.
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#76On the plus side, I just visited China last month and never felt safer. Before you would wear your backpack on the front of your chest when taking public transportation for fear of thieves. Now, with surveillance everywhere (and random ID checks at subways), you can freely wear your backpack on your back where it belongs without fear of theft.
You're not wrong, article looks at it from a Western viewpoint. This surveillance is actually not new. Its a throwback to imperial China, with technology added to it. I can imagine a lot of Chinese prefer it to lawlessness.
It does cost vast amounts of money though. China spends more on surveillance and the police than the entire military budget.
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#77On the plus side, I just visited China last month and never felt safer. Before you would wear your backpack on the front of your chest when taking public transportation for fear of thieves. Now, with surveillance everywhere (and random ID checks at subways), you can freely wear your backpack on your back where it belongs without fear of theft.
There are plenty of western “free countries” with little-to-no street crime. It’s not an either-or situation.
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#78On the plus side, I just visited China last month and never felt safer. Before you would wear your backpack on the front of your chest when taking public transportation for fear of thieves. Now, with surveillance everywhere (and random ID checks at subways), you can freely wear your backpack on your back where it belongs without fear of theft.
Sigh, another passerby tourist making a comment that is so out of touch with reality that is borderline autistic. Those surveillance are means to oppress a large number of people.
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#79>> For the next 10 months, web access would be almost nonexistent in Xinjiang, a vast region larger than Texas with a population of more than 20 million. It was one of the most widespread, longest internet shutdowns ever. SpaceX's plans to launch their first set of satellites for their Starlink broadband constellation[1]. Uighers may be the first population to sign up for satellite subscriptions, although the Chinese…
> Uighers may be the first population to sign up for satellite subscriptions If they can at all. Uighers can't even buy a knife without it being engraved with a QR code of their national ID number.
Don’t forget the massive Chinese re-education camp for 120,000 uighers.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/...
Re: China's Xinjiang surveillance is the dystopian future nobody wants
#80On the plus side, I just visited China last month and never felt safer. Before you would wear your backpack on the front of your chest when taking public transportation for fear of thieves. Now, with surveillance everywhere (and random ID checks at subways), you can freely wear your backpack on your back where it belongs without fear of theft.
Sigh, another passerby tourist making a comment that is so out of touch with reality that is borderline autistic. Those surveillance are means to oppress a large number of people.
> borderline autistic
Hi, I'm autistic and I'd appreciate it if you didn't use me as a synonym for "stupid," thanks.